Stress among Nurses
The Causes Of Stress Among Nurses
Introduction
Hans Selye defines stress as ‘the nonspecific response of the body to any demand for change’ (AIS, 1979). Job stressors are the harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when the requirements of the job do not match the capabilities or resources of the worker. Stress is defined as ‘an external cue that threatens the equilibrium of an individual’ (Gray-Toft and Anderson 1981: 639). ‘Stress is a psycho-physiologic arousal response occurring in the body as a result of a stimulus which becomes a "stressor" by virtue of the cognitive interpretation of the individual’. (Everly G.S.; Rosenfeld, R. pp. 4-5.) The perception of job stress is often mixed up with challenge. A challenge usually boosts us psychologically and physically and it also inspires us to learn new skills.
The concept of stress has two components, one component deals with a person’s perception of demands that are being made on them and other component deals with a person’s perception of their ability to meet those demands (Mc Vicar 2003: 633).
Severe and long lasting distress leads to more consistently observed symptoms of emotional ‘burnout’ and severe psychological disturbance (Mc Vicar 2003: 634, Stordeur et al 2001: 534, Coffey 1999: 435). Emotional exhaustion leads to failure of being concerned about others and workers develop feelings of inadequacy (Stordeur et al 2001: 535). Various manifestations of burnout are insomnia, exhaustion, employment of different coping strategies, thinking of alternate career options.
Literature Review:
Literature shows that there are countless stressors which lead to stress in nurses (International Labor Organization 1998).
Nursing literature is replete with descriptions of fatigue/ sleep deprivation, compassion fatigue, consequences of being bullied and other stress related maladies. (Graner, 2010)
Work in which the demands imposed are threatening and not well matched to the knowledge, skills and
Introduction
Hans Selye defines stress as ‘the nonspecific response of the body to any demand for change’ (AIS, 1979). Job stressors are the harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when the requirements of the job do not match the capabilities or resources of the worker. Stress is defined as ‘an external cue that threatens the equilibrium of an individual’ (Gray-Toft and Anderson 1981: 639). ‘Stress is a psycho-physiologic arousal response occurring in the body as a result of a stimulus which becomes a "stressor" by virtue of the cognitive interpretation of the individual’. (Everly G.S.; Rosenfeld, R. pp. 4-5.) The perception of job stress is often mixed up with challenge. A challenge usually boosts us psychologically and physically and it also inspires us to learn new skills.
The concept of stress has two components, one component deals with a person’s perception of demands that are being made on them and other component deals with a person’s perception of their ability to meet those demands (Mc Vicar 2003: 633).
Severe and long lasting distress leads to more consistently observed symptoms of emotional ‘burnout’ and severe psychological disturbance (Mc Vicar 2003: 634, Stordeur et al 2001: 534, Coffey 1999: 435). Emotional exhaustion leads to failure of being concerned about others and workers develop feelings of inadequacy (Stordeur et al 2001: 535). Various manifestations of burnout are insomnia, exhaustion, employment of different coping strategies, thinking of alternate career options.
Literature Review:
Literature shows that there are countless stressors which lead to stress in nurses (International Labor Organization 1998).
Nursing literature is replete with descriptions of fatigue/ sleep deprivation, compassion fatigue, consequences of being bullied and other stress related maladies. (Graner, 2010)
Work in which the demands imposed are threatening and not well matched to the knowledge, skills and
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